Si la cisterna vuelve a hacer ruido por la noche, llamaré a la fontanera mañana.

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Breakdown of Si la cisterna vuelve a hacer ruido por la noche, llamaré a la fontanera mañana.

• la noche: the night
• hacer: to make
• a: to

Questions & Answers about Si la cisterna vuelve a hacer ruido por la noche, llamaré a la fontanera mañana.

What does cisterna mean here? Is it really cistern?

In this sentence, la cisterna most naturally means the toilet tank / toilet cistern in a bathroom.

A native English speaker might first think of a big water tank, and cisterna can mean that in other contexts, but in everyday home-repair Spanish, la cisterna often refers to the part of the toilet that fills with water and flushes.

So here, the idea is probably that the toilet tank is making noise at night.

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Why does Spanish say vuelve a hacer ruido?

Volver a + infinitive is a very common Spanish structure meaning to do something again.

So:

• vuelve a hacer ruido = it makes noise again / it starts making noise again
• literally: it returns to make noise

Examples:

• Ha vuelto a llover. = It has rained again.
• Vuelvo a intentarlo. = I’m trying again.

So in your sentence, la cisterna vuelve a hacer ruido means the noise is not new; it is happening again.

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Why is it hacer ruido and not just one verb?